Hollow Military: Pentagon wants to raise maximum age again ...to 42

Great news for war supporters still too old to help fight their glorious war in Iraq!

http://www.dailykos.com/

The Defense Department quietly asked Congress on Monday to raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42 for all branches of the service.

Under current law, the maximum age to enlist in the active components is 35, while people up to age 39 may enlist in the reserves. By practice, the accepted age for recruits is 27 for the Air Force, 28 for the Marine Corps and 34 for the Navy and Army, although the Army Reserve and Navy Reserve sometimes take people up to age 39 in some specialties.

The Pentagon's request to raise the maximum recruit age to 42 is part of what defense officials are calling a package of "urgent wartime support initiatives" sent to Congress Monday night prior to a Tuesday hearing of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee.



Recruitment is too big a problem for them to maintain the current pace of war for much longer. This manpower shortage is the reason Scott Ritter's assertions the US was going to attack Iran in June was so stupid and nonsensical. It's also the reason that the US will have to either draw down its forces in Iraq within a year or beging steps to institute a draft.

What makes the Pentagon think there's suddenly a huge pool of talent between the ages of 39 and 42 just chompin' at the bit to get blown up in Iraq in a meaningless and useless exercise in imperial expansionism?

If you're healthy enough you should be able to do the jobs that you qualify for mentally and physically. And use many years of experience.

Only a portion of jobs are combat related.

to draft you up to age 42?

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Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

Recruitment is too big a problem for them to maintain the current pace of war for much longer. This manpower shortage is the reason Scott Ritter's assertions the US was going to attack Iran in June was so stupid and nonsensical. It's also the reason that the US will have to either draw down its forces in Iraq within a year or beging steps to institute a draft.

not urgent enough to stop those tax cuts for the rich, however.

I read this and just busted up laughing. So pathetic.... As an ex-military 43 yr old, all I can say is we are truly fucked if the Pentagon thinks this will do anything to help.

If it encourages any 40 something fat pasty repugs into signing up,it could be a good thing since they will probably have a heart attack in boot camp...might cull the herd a bit. Unfortunately some of them are old enough to have spawned already.

This is just another bad idea to throw on the pile with every single other idea the Republicans and vomited out in the last 5 years.

I got an "urgent wartime support initiative" ...Bring the troops home and we'll have less dead and broken ones to replace and we won't need to rustle up 40 year olds to go be Infantry for the Empire.